CHAPLAINS of the Pope are the auditors or judges of causes in the sacred palace; so called because the pope anciently gave audience in his chapel, for the decision of causes sent from the several parts of Christendom. He summoned hither as assessors the most learned lawyers of his time, who hence acquired the appellation of capellani, chaplains. It is from the decrees formerly pronounced by these assessors that the body of Decretals is composed. Pope Sixtus IV. reduced their number to twelve. Some say the shrines of relics were covered with a kind of tent-cape, or capella, that is, little cape; and that hence the priests who had the care of them were called chaplains. In time these relics were deposited in a little church, either contiguous to or separate from a larger one; and the same name, capella, which was given to the cover, was also applied to the place where it was lodged; hence the priest who superintended it was called chaplain.